Local MLA touts progress at mental health summit

Commentator/Courier Photo by Anna Smith. HELP SUMMIT: Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Justin Wright addresses the crowd at the HELP summit at the Grandstand Banquet Room on Sept. 17.

By Anna Smith
Southern Alberta Newspapers
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The fourth installment of the “Healthy Experiences, Lasting Positivity” – or HELP – summit was hosted Sept. 17 at the Medicine Hat Stampede’s Grandstand Banquet Room, with the largest attending numbers yet.

These summits, featuring Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Justin Wright, were initially put together to determine where there were gaps in mental health care in the region.

The first summit held only 15 people from different organizations, in which they sat down to figure out what services they all provided, as well as what services they’re perceived to provide, so all bases could be covered.

“From that, there were two items that weren’t covered by somebody else within the community. Of those two items, the suicide prevention piece is handled by Canadian Mental Health Alberta, and they’ve been doing a lot of really great work in the Medicine Hat area for that,” Wright told Southern Alberta Newspapers.

The second one is something currently in the works to be addressed, said Wright, with Medicine Hat Family Services.

This iteration included presentations from McMan and Recovery Alberta, the Global Village Centre in Brooks and the Palix Foundation on a variety of topics. They are the latest in a long line of presenters for the summit, and Wright said he feels they have been more and more successful in connecting the community with each event.

“It’s all about engaging within the community and really identifying gaps, but also raising awareness on what resources there are available,” said Wright. “We’ve been really able to showcase a number of different organizations and initiatives over the last year.”

Resource awareness, both for individuals and for various services throughout the area, is one of the focuses of the summit, to help people find exactly what they need and form a more collective-based approach to supporting individuals.

This summit saw just under 90 people attending from “across the whole gamut,” said Wright, from individuals with an interest in the field to professionals in local social programs, education, health care and local government alike.

“I think the biggest point of all of these is just really making sure that we’re getting the word out what the resources are within the network. And as we continue to have these in the future, it’s about finding new avenues of communicating what programs there are available,” said Wright.